The Portland daily press., 1887-02-10

. =.
These figures may be changed by the prob,
able presence Of children without tickets on
the trains which have not been heard from
This afternoon the commissioners decided
70 continue their investigation by going to
the rooms of some of the injured, theiI
proceedings being conducted openly as here
tofore.
Polly Arel, of Chicopee Falls, testified: 81
was in the second passenger car, the seventh
seat from the nd,-right side. l was awake
and noticed the shake of the car. 1t was a
forward and back motion, not lateral at all
Should think it was about one and a half
minutes until the crash. The car did not
the rear end first. At Bellows Falls while
waiting, another lady and myself discussed
as to how many were in the car and we
counted them. know there were just seven
ladies, two small boys and eighteen men,
making twenty-seven in all. When the car
struck laid still little while, and could
see the moon above me from the window.
reached up and got my body partly through
when man under me pulled me back, say
ing he would get out first and then help me.
did not see him again as he left me to get
out alone. Should think it was about Is
minutes from the time the car went down
until got out. Did not see my car burning
but when / got out the cars ON both sides of
mine were in flames. Cannot say how far
the train went after the first disturbance un-
til they went down. The lights all went out
In my car before it went down and some
windows were broken. Didn't know what
had happened, saw no one pull the bell cord.
There were no train men in the car.
James Kiley, of Burke, N. Y, was
In the first passenger car; was awake; first
noticed the car bob up and down.
There was an awful jar at the first, a kind
of shock. It alarmed me and / sprang to
my feet. The conductor reached for the
rope and missed it, when / reached it and
gave jerk. We were going fast; | thought
they were running on ties. / think the for
ward light in my, car went out before the car
went over the side Of the bridge, but don't
think the rest of them did or that any win
dows were broken before we went over.
remember of only one child in the car, and
that was little boy, who sat in the seat
ahead of me, and seemed to be accompanied
by man. could not tell If the car turned
over, for | lost my senses when the car
turned over. When | came to my senses
some one told me it had been over five min
utes. picked my way out. The fire caught
IN my car from a lamp, but / cannot say
which end. | had only one boot on and no
nat dld not know where to go; all were cry
ing out; went back to the sleeper and heard
a lady crying for help; picked up something
smashed the window, took her out, and went
away at once; my left arm was broken and
worked with my right; was not excited
until l felt the car going over; think we
such long bridges. When pulled the bell
cord l cannot say whether there was any ap-
plication of the brakes.
Mary j. Graham, of Medford, Mass, testi-
fed. WAS in next to the first sleeper. No
ticed that the cars were off tie track ahd the
conductor pulled the bell cord. Thought
they were running very fast to make up lost
time and had just spoken to man near me
OF the rapid speed; noticed nothing OF slow
ing up for the bridge"
Joseph +. Jaquis, of Fitchburg, Mass, was
Ii the first passenger car; was awake at the
time Ct the accident, knew the car was off
the track; don't think the car rolled over
and over. Before it fell it swung arc md at
one end; cannot say which end; cannot say
as to speed; noticed no slowing up for the
bridge; when we first went off saw no lights
got out of windows broken in my car; think
the conductor was in our car; saw some one
with a uniform on pull the cord twice; can
not say whether brakeman or conductor.
This concluded all the testimony of the in
jured at the Junction House, and the COM
missioners went from there to the Paine
House to see two or three more, but their
condition was such it was thought best to
defer questioning them until tomorrow. The
hearing will be resumed tomorrow morning.
1t cannot be doubted that the Board Of
Railroad Commissioners Of this State are do
ing all that is possible to get at the facts in
regard to the recent disaster in order to To-
cate the blame therefor if any exists, but it
is almost universally conceded that the evil
dence thus far taken tends to show that the
accident was one that no amount of human
knowledge could have f0reseen or prevented.
Prof. Robert Fletcher of Hanover has
been quoted as saying that the rails at the
point of the accident were defective. This
has been denied by the Professor, and is
contradicted by his testimony before the
Board this afternoon, Prof. Fletcher being
sworn, testified: am professor of civil en-
rxfr ot ~ oil IInR,
was at the wreck during the day
Saturday, and examined quite mum
Der of pieces Of the broken rails
| estimate the distance from the broken
rail to the bridge to be thirty rods The
witness produced three pieces of broken
rail. Did not try to fit these pieces to the
broken rail to see il they were parts of it
found them near the broken rail, and sup.
posed they were destined for the scrap heap
Took these pieces simply to examine as tC
their perfectness, as they appeared to have
structural defects. A defect that struck
from point just underneath the
head, nearly cutting. the side Of
the head off from the main body Of the rail.
There was no other defect in it, The same
flaw appears at the other end. Have moi
fitted these together to see If they came of
from each other. made no attempt to tel
where they came from and have no theory
was not certain but they were broken up In
taking out other rails to repair the track,
/ am not able to say these parts or either OF
them are part of the same rail. l think
these defects are not such as could have
been discovered by any amount of diligence
on the part of the railroad men or others. Ii
seems as il the metal was too cold wher
rolled, have always supposed also that
streak of Stag or other impurity rolled il
would cause such flaw. think this flaw
would affect the strength Of the rail under
vertical or ObliQe pressure. Serious cOl(
weather reduces the strength Of all metals
as supposed by scientific men. The rail hai
every appearance Of being Bessemer STEEL
saw the broken axle and discovered nothinI
on which to base any theory. This concluded
the testimony for today